A VINTAGE Bugatti car, which a Bury man sold for just £30, has fetched a staggering £54,293 at auction in the USA.

And yesterday former owner Andrew Heib, when told of the figure by the Bury Times, said: ""It does surprise me, really. But saying that, I don't have any qualms about selling the car in the first place."

The gleaming 1922 type 13 Brescia Bugatti came under the hammer at Sunday's (Aug 20) auction, handled by Christie's, at Pebble Beach, California, and sold for $78,725.

The classic car was bought by Mr Heig, of Brandlesholme Road, Greenmount, in 1946.

Then, it was just a bare chassis, the frame of which had been cut in two.

Mr Heib spent the next seven years restoring the sought-after car before he sold it in 1964 to a Rochdale man for £30, the same price he'd bought it for.

In 1975, the Bugatti was sold again to the late Robert Sutherland, one time president of the American Bugatti Club.

Proceeds from the auction will go to the Robert Sutherland Memorial Fund, established to help people diagnosed as manic depressives.

Bugatti was an Italian-born motor manufacturer whose French factory turned out the cars from around 1907 until the late '40s when production ceased.

The Bugatti name is now owned by Volkwagen